My wood stove pipe collapsed at 2am in a January ice storm

Had a section of my double wall pipe come apart right in the middle of that ice storm we got back in January. The whole thing just slid down and left a gap near the ceiling, smoke started filling the living room before I even knew what happened. I was up on the roof at 3am in freezing rain trying to shove it back together with zip ties and a prayer. Called a chimney guy the next morning and he said the screws had vibrated loose over time, something I NEVER would have thought to check. Now I go up every fall with a screwdriver and tighten EVERY connection point, takes maybe 20 minutes. Anyone else had a wood stove part fail in the middle of a storm? What did you do?

2 comments

2 Comments

reese_anderson4313d ago

Man I heard a guy in Maine lost his whole cabin to a chimney fire last winter because of loose pipe connections. He said the same thing, screws backed out over the years from all the expansion and contraction. I check mine twice a year now, once before burning season starts and again in January. That zip tie fix was rough but you did what you had to do, sometimes you just gotta get through the night. Most people don't realize how much those joints move with the heat cycles.

jason52412d ago

Dang, that's rough. Makes you really think about the little things that can go wrong with these setups.